


comfort food

by sweetbun_trio



Series: stalwart and sincerest of knights [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Cooking, Food, Friendship, Gen, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 09:40:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28561443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetbun_trio/pseuds/sweetbun_trio
Summary: Times are hard... My favorite food cart that sold the most amazing grilled delights went under. I don't even know what to live for anymore...
Relationships: Ingrid Brandl Galatea & Sylvain Jose Gautier
Series: stalwart and sincerest of knights [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2092644
Comments: 6
Kudos: 19





	comfort food

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea in my head for a while, and I'm sliding it in here under the wire for Ingrid's birthday :)
> 
> Thank you to Tari, Rachelle, and Mish for looking over this piece!

Felix waylaid Sylvian on his way to lunch. “We need to do something.”

“Did the Professor assign something else?” Sylvain asked. “I thought we finished all the rubble cleanup, finally.”

“No,” Felix said, “it’s Ingrid.”

“Is something wrong?” Sylvain’s mind spiraled through multiple dire scenarios.

It couldn’t be some injury she hid from him; they had been sticking together on the battlefield. He always had her in his sightlines now. Did she get another letter about a marriage proposal from her father? He frowned. Why couldn’t he leave it for now? They were in a war, for Goddess’ sake.

Sylvain came back to the present conversation abruptly when Felix said, “...don’t even know what to live for anymore.”

“Wait!” he exclaimed, then, “What? She said something about not knowing what to live for anymore?” 

“I couldn’t believe it either. It’s just a food cart.”

That did sound dramatic, even for Ingrid talking about food. She must be really depressed about this food cart. None of them were going hungry, but Sylvain knew how much Ingrid savored treats.

“Well what do you think we can do about it?” he asked Felix.

“She should find something similar, instead of getting hung up on this one food cart,” he said. “Or ask Ashe if he can recreate the recipe.”

“What did the Professor say?”

“She said, ‘Maybe once the war ends the cart will open back up,’ and Ingrid was happy with that,” Felix said, exasperated. “Why not try making her own?”

As much as she loved eating good food, Ingrid had never been great at making all of the tasty treats she craved. When cooking she was more likely to just throw everything together; her aversion to waste did not allow her to get elaborate at the expense of efficiency, although she craved it. 

“Well, I’m not the best at cooking,” Sylvain said, thinking. “Why don’t you talk to Annette and I’ll ask Ashe about it.” He wished Dedue were here. What little culinary knowledge Sylvain had was thanks to him, after all.

“Annette is more likely to blow something up, but alright,” Felix said as they joined the end of the lunch line.

~

“It’s still not quite right,” Ashe said for the third time that day. He had readily agreed to help when Sylvain asked if he knew of the particular food cart that used to be in the Monastery town during their school days.

Sylvain took a bite of the grilled meat and vegetables. It tasted amazing. And they were making progress at pinning down exactly what was in the recipe, at least from their memories. But Ashe was sure he could do better.

He looked back over the spice blend he had used on that attempt. “Maybe a marinade first,” he muttered. “Yeah, that could work. Let me see what we have…” Ashe disappeared into the back room, looking for ingredients.

“Something smells wonderful!” a voice said behind Sylvain and he whirled around to see Ingrid. She was with Felix and they must have both come straight from the training grounds, still sweaty. “What are you doing cooking, Sylvain? You should have joined us for training.”

Ashe reappeared. “Oh! I thought I heard Ingrid’s voice. We were just—”

“Ashe was teaching me the best methods for grilling.” Sylvain interrupted, shooting the archer a pointed look he hoped conveyed how much he needed him to be quiet. He just really, really wanted to surprise Ingrid when they finally got it right.

“You know, we’re just testing some new recipes. A good meal after what happened last month will boost morale, for all of us and the reinforcements Lord Rodrigue brought,” Ashe elaborated, catching on quickly.

Felix humphed and said, “Well, can we eat the test dishes? We wouldn’t want to waste any of the provisions the old man secured for us, would we?”

“Yes,” Ingrid said, “you’re right, Felix. And I am starving after all that training.”

“Of course.” Sylvain passed Ingrid the plate in his hand.

~

Sylvain and Ashe continued tinkering with recipes after the Blue Lions returned from the battle at the Great Bridge of Myrddin, now accompanied by Annette. Occasionally Felix would stop by and eat some of their experiments. And sometimes Mercedes would join them for what she called ‘moral support,’ claiming she was no good at making anything but sweets.

But Sylvain refused to bother Dedue, as happy as he was that he was alive, and back with the Blue Lions. He’d had a hard enough time of it without them asking him for a special favor. And he had barely left Dimitri’s side since he came back.

“Nonsense,” Ashe said. “I’m certain that Dedue will be happy to help solve this puzzle!” They were all debating whether or not to ask for Dedue’s help when the man himself walked into the dining hall.

“I heard you are cooking and wanted to ask my opinion,” he said. 

Sylvain looked at Ashe and then Annette. And they all looked at one another. 

“It was Mercedes.” Dedue clarified. “She told me how long you’ve been trying to figure it out, and I wanted to help.”

“I told you!” Ashe said to Sylvain, laughing. He pulled a dishcloth off his shoulder and wiped his hands on it.

Annette poked Sylvain in the ribs. “Seeeee!” she said, drawing out the word in a teasing lilt.

“Alright!” Sylvain said. “That’s enough. You were right.”

Ashe started explaining what they had tried so far, after Sylvain confirmed that Dedue remembered the particular food cart from five years ago. Dedue considered for some time, then shifted into chef mode, giving each of them directions.

“Sylvain, please brew some ginger tea. Ashe, if you would prepare some Noa fruit, I would appreciate it. Annette, could you find some apple cider vinegar?”

Sylvain put a kettle on and watched as Dedue got to work trimming and slicing cuts of wild game into chunks. Once the tea steeped and Ashe had extracted the pulp from the Noa fruit, Dedue stirred the ingredients together with herbs and spices in a bowl before pouring it over the meat.

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of that myself,” Ashe said once they covered the dish to let it marinate. “I remember now, Noa fruit tenderizes meat, doesn’t it?”

“Right,” Dedue said. “Now we just need to let it marinate.”

~

The next day when everyone sat down for dinner, Sylvain set an extra plate in front of Ingrid.  
“What’s this?” she asked, eyeing the grilled skewers of meat and vegetables. “Are you still working on new recipes?”

“It’s a treat for you,” Sylvain said. He glanced around at the whole group gathered together in the dining hall. “Just try it.”

He watched her taste it—first a piece of turnip, then the meat. Ingrid opened her eyes wide, a smile spreading across her face. She hummed. “Mmmmm! This tastes like...my favorite food cart. But I thought it was gone! I hadn’t seen the woman who owned it in the market since we came back. Where did you…?” 

She trailed off and started to eat the rest of it.

“We made it!” Annette said gleefully, fists balled in front of her. “Well, we helped. But Dedue figured it out. Mercie told him about how we were trying to find the right recipe and then he was the one who knew the best way to cook it.”

“It was mostly Ashe,” Dedue demurred. “I merely suggested a missing ingredient that he had not thought of.”

“But it was Sylvain who asked me if I could help!” Ashe pointed out eagerly.

“And it was Felix who told me how much you were missing your favorite food cart,” Sylvain said with a laugh.

“I still can’t believe how upset you were about it,” Felix said and a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “I knew someone could make it for you.”

Sylvain’s heart felt as if it may burst as Ingrid paused, the last bite held up to her lips, to look around at all of them in wonder. “Thank you,” she said, “for doing all of this just for me.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on [Twitter!](https://twitter.com/sweetbun_trio)


End file.
